The leaflet, which started to appear on doormats at the beginning of the month, claims that being gay is a disease and that it has become a dangerous cult.

The printed leaflet does not carry the name of any group or organisation on it but refers regularly to Christian scripture and moral teachings.

Cambridgeshire police confirmed to the Ely Standard that several complaints about the leaflet had been received by officers and that an investigation would be launched.

A spokesman said: “We have received a number of reports about the leaflets and are treating the matter as a hate incident.

“We are liaising with local and national partners about the leaflets and investigations are ongoing.”

The leaflet reads: “Homosexuality, as well as being a sin and a vice, is essentially a neurosis, a pathological condition; the result of several factors including childhood experiences.

“If the practice of homosexuality is acceptable, then in time any form of sexual deviation, perversion and experimentation will be acceptable, including the progressive lowering of the age of consent, taking it below the age of puberty and thus legalising paedophilia. A common form of homosexuality is pederasty.

“The condition of homosexuality can be treated and healed, as all distorted sexuality can be healed, and as many cases in recent years have proved.

The leaflet goes on to suggest that gay people should not be persecuted but says that should also “not be encouraged”. “They need healing not approval” the leaflet claims.

At its end, the leaflet denies it is homophobic saying that the term is a misnomer, translating literally to ‘fear of men’ and not fear of homosexuals.

One crew and rescue vehicle from Dogsthorpe, along with two Lincolnshire crews from Stamford and Market Deeping, were called to a road traffic collision on the A1 southbound between Carpenters Lodge and Wansford.